The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-09-29

The capital OF the employe who bnt
barely subsists by his daily labor
is his physical energies and inte!-
lectual training. If he possesses a
superior economical and intellectual
training or natural talent over his
fellow men, he will soon begin to
accumulate q surplus. In the course
of time he will 90 into some small
enterprise in which he will under
take to use his accumulated earn
lngs in the employment Of others,
that he may be able to reap a
profit from their labor. From that
time he becomes not an employe
but a capitalist, so far as that
word applies to the employment of
labor, although he may be employ
ing but one man, for there is no
law by which we can draw line of
distinction between the man who
lives on the profits of one mans Ia
Dor or that of ten thousand. 1t is
only matter of degree.
Now, this man who God has en-
lowed with natural abilities AID
ambitions of q special order may be
successful in his incipient effort,
and finally eliminate in a vast
manufacturing enterprise, employ
ing hundreds Of men. This is his
tory. We have multiplied instances
Of this kind all over our country
IN fact it may be said that the ma
jority of the great manufacturing
interests of this country have
sprung from this inclpient begin
ming.
That their institutions are O
blessing to the working man, no
man will deny-that the manufac-
turing interests of this country
should be in prosperous condition,
that workilgmen may receive en-
ployment at good wages, no man OF
intelligence will deny. That the
vital element underlying the labor
problem, Good wages and prompt
pay" is found in the profitable op-
Grafton and financial success of all
industry dependent on labor, is un-
questionably true. 1t needs no ar
gument to demonstrate this we'll
established fact. This country has
furnished many sad examples illus
trative of this fundamental truth. |
need only to refer to the condition
Of the manufactures of this country
following specie resumption and its
reflective influence upon labor. The
streets and highways were thronged
with thousands of starving beggars,
many of them noble men who
would have been been glad of en-
ployment at the prices of the pau
| per labor Of India. But there was
no profit in manufacturing, no sale
for surplus goods, because there
was no money to buy them, and as
Q result the employer and employe
suffered alike.
| have presented the above tc
show that the interests Cf legiti-
mately employed capital and tnar
Of honest labor are identical under
sill circumstance. When the man
ufacturer makes money he pays hil
labor promptly and well; when h'
loses money he either fails to pay
his employees, or otherwise, is com
| PEELED to discharge men and reduce
wages for self-preservation; else h'
would become q bankrupt.
| This is the close, intrinsic rela-
tionship that exists between active
| ly employed capital and dependen
labor, They cannot exist one with
tout the sOther-they have thei
very beings dependent upon eacl
other-labor may be said to be tn
tree of liberty, active capital th
vital fluid which circulates through
its fbrous pores, permesting ever.
imb and leaf, causing it to bud ant
blossom and bring forth fruit. Blu
when by some false legislation on
| government proceeds to draw from
this tree Of labor-which is the ire
Of liberty-its vital fluid, capital
by applying the woodman's dead
ening ak, thenss the grand oil
tree will wither and die.
| This view of the situation extend
TO every branch of industry wher
capital employs free labor. ar
unable to conceive of any possibl
exception. The problems Of prison
labor, and of the importation c
pauper labor, are subjects separat
and apart from those Under con
sideration. am dealing dIstine
lively between the relations of &C
lively employed capital and FIRE
American labor.
| We often hear the expression
Conflict between capital and Ia
Dor" and many are laboring unde
the delusive theory that their inter
ests diverge from each other-tha
capital is tyrant and labor is
slave, and that if the tyrant could b
killed the slave would be set free
Such a notion is dangerous t
American institutions. The pee
pie shoXld be educated out of sue
delusSve theory. II cultivated an
szgendered it might lead to anarchy
! What the American laborer want
is enlightenment, education and
closer understanding Of the princi
Piles governing business, the cause
of advance and decline in wage
the risks and dangers connecte
with all enterprises in which labc
forms great element, and triflin
margins that in large bushes
: will either make large amount {
profit or cause great loss.
Upon the other hand the emplo!